Motor-learning capacities are known to be relatively preserved in Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is crucial in the context of the patient’s autonomy (e.g., Rouleau et al., 2002). However, it is important ... [more ▼]

Motor-learning capacities are known to be relatively preserved in Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is crucial in the context of the patient’s autonomy (e.g., Rouleau et al., 2002). However, it is important to determine the most appropriate techniques for such learning. In AD, implicit or procedural rehabilitation techniques would be more effective to train new skills than explicit or declarative learning methods (van Halteren-van Tilborg, 2007). Maxwell et al. (2001) showed that reducing errors during motor learning minimizes the building of declarative knowledge and would allow implicit knowledge accumulation. If errorless learning induces the formation of an implicit knowledge, this technique appears to be adapted to the learning of a perceptual-motor skill in patients with impaired controlled processes. Very few studies have investigated errorless learning in procedural learning situations, even though some data suggest that errorless learning would be efficient for learning instrumental activities of daily living (e.g., Thivierge et al., 2008). In this study we examined the acquisition of a new perceptual-motor skill in 12 patients with AD and 12 healthy older adults. We compared the impact of two preliminary sequence learning conditions (errorless vs. errorful) on a serial reaction time (SRT) performance. In SRT, the subject must react as quickly as possible to the appearance of a target on a screen by pressing the key corresponding to the position of the stimulus. The effectiveness of learning is demonstrated by a reaction time improvement when the target follows a repeating sequence. For patients with AD, results confirm that the advantage provided by prior learning occurs only in the errorless condition whereas both learning modes improve SRT performance in healthy participants. In conclusion, these results confirm that the errorless learning promotes the development of implicit knowledge and appears to be an effective method for procedural learning in Alzheimer's disease. [less ▲]

Alzheimer disease (AD) is characterized by an early impairment of explicit memory processes associated to a preservation of implicit memory processes (Fleischman & Gabrieli 1998). Due to the role of ... [more ▼]

Alzheimer disease (AD) is characterized by an early impairment of explicit memory processes associated to a preservation of implicit memory processes (Fleischman & Gabrieli 1998). Due to the role of explicit memory in the suppression of errors during learning, AD patients tend to reproduce automatically (implicitly) errors that occurred during a previous learning (Baddeley & Wilson, 1994). Consequently, errorless learning should be more efficient than a classical “trial-and-error” procedure for AD patients. Indeed, errorless learning decreases the involvement of (impaired) explicit memory by avoiding the interference caused by the production of errors (Bier et al., 2002). The present study investigates the automatic post-learning error production in mild AD patients and matched control subjects by using a word stem completion task (Adam et al., 2005) in conditions of both errorless and trial-and-error learning. Results showed a lower word stem completion performance in mild AD than control subjects, but a similar performance in the patients’ group for the two learning conditions. Moreover, in the trial-and-error procedure, the errors consisted mainly in erroneous responses already produced during the learning phase. In addition, correlation analyses indicate that the ability to suppress errors in the trial-and-error learning condition in mild AD patients is subtended by the efficiency of episodic memory processes, but not by inhibitory abilities. These results suggest that the errorless procedure improves the quality of learning of mild AD patients (production of fewer errors) but do not influence the learning rate per se. [less ▲]

Purpose: According to the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis (PDH), difficulties in the Procedural Learning (PL) system may contribute to the language difficulties observed in children with Specific Language ... [more ▼]

Purpose: According to the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis (PDH), difficulties in the Procedural Learning (PL) system may contribute to the language difficulties observed in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Method: Fifteen children with SLI and their typically developing (TD) peers were compared on visual PL tasks: specifically, deterministic Serial Reaction Time (SRT) tasks. In a first experiment, children with SLI and their TD peers performed the classical SRT task using a keyboard as response mode. In a second experiment, they performed the same SRT task but gave their responses through a touchscreen (instead of a keyboard) to reduce the motor and cognitive demands of the task. Results: Although in Experiment 1, children with SLI demonstrated learning, they were slower and made more errors than their TD peers. Nevertheless, these relative weaknesses disappeared when the nature of the response mode changed (Experiment 2). Conclusions: This study reports that children with SLI may exhibit sequential learning. Moreover, the generally slower RTs observed in previous deterministic SRT studies may be explained by the response mode used. Thus, our findings are not consistent with the predictions of the PDH, and suggest that language impairments in SLI are not sustained by poor procedural learning abilities. [less ▲]

in 1st Joint Meeting of the Belgian Association for Psychological Science and Sociedad Espanola de Psicologia Experimental. (2012, May 11)

Patients suffering from left unilateral neglect fail to perceive or respond to stimuli presented within the contralesional space. Neglect is generally considered as involving an attentional bias towards ... [more ▼]

Patients suffering from left unilateral neglect fail to perceive or respond to stimuli presented within the contralesional space. Neglect is generally considered as involving an attentional bias towards the ipsilateral side. Recently, it has been suggested that revisiting and perseveration behaviors in visual search tasks shown in parietal neglect could be related to impairment in visuo-spatial working memory (Husain et al., 2001; Wojciulik et al., 2001). The aim of the present study was to investigate which aspect of visuo-spatial working memory is involved in unilateral neglect. Indeed, different source of evidence support the idea that visuo-spatial working memory involves at least two separate cognitive subsystems: the visual cache and the inner scribe (Logie, 1995; Pickering et al., 2001). We assessed thirteen right-damaged patients suffering from left neglect on two experimental task involving either spatial (Corsi test) or visual (Span test) working memory. Results show that visual and/or spatial working memory can be impaired in spatial neglect. This double dissociation provides neuropsychological support for the separation of visuo-spatial working memory into two subcomponents. The clinical and anatomical implications of this finding are discussed. [less ▲]

in Books of Abstract: 1st Joint Meeting of the Belgian Association for Psychological Science & Sociedad Espanola de Psicologica Experimental (2012, May 11)

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a developmental disorder characterized by marked impairments in motor skills. Despite its negative impact on daily activities and on cognitive and academic ... [more ▼]

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a developmental disorder characterized by marked impairments in motor skills. Despite its negative impact on daily activities and on cognitive and academic performance, the mechanisms underlying DCD remain largely unknown. The aim of our study was to investigate the hypothesis of a motor procedural learning impairment in DCD, which would explain difficulties in motor learning and automation of novel motor skills in these children. A total of 32 children (16 with DCD and 16 typically developing [TD] children) aged between 6 and 12 years old participated in this study. Children were administered a task adapted from the traditional shapes’ mirror-tracing task. Results showed that DCD children were able to learn the skill as fast as TD children; the learning pattern of DCD and TD children in motor procedural learning is similar. But is there any generalization of a new perceptual-motor skill in DCD children? Actually, DCD children were slower during the transfer task (triangle task) than TD children; the transfer task was more difficult for the DCD children than their peers. DCD children and TD children differ in their abilities to generalize the motor schema to a new task, more complex. These results confirm the hypothesis of a motor procedural learning impairment in DCD. [less ▲]

It is well known that patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) are able to acquire new perceptual-motor skills (e.g., Rouleau et al., 2002). However, implicit learning methods should be favored, because ... [more ▼]

It is well known that patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) are able to acquire new perceptual-motor skills (e.g., Rouleau et al., 2002). However, implicit learning methods should be favored, because they reduce the intervention of controlled processes related to working memory (Van Halteren-Van Tilborg, 2007). We compared two learning methods (implicit vs. declarative) of a perceptual-motor sequence in 12 patients with AD and 12 healthy older adults. In the implicit learning condition, subjects were simply asked to perform the sequence several times by pushing on the keyboard key corresponding to the stimulus on the screen. In the declarative condition, subjects learned the sequence by trial-and-error. The impact of the two methods was compared in a subsequent serial reaction time task, in which subjects had to respond as quickly as possible to the previously learned sequence. Results show that prior implicit learning is effective in both groups (p<.05). In contrast, in the declarative condition, while the two groups showed improving performance during the learning phase (p<0.01), only the control group benefits from this knowledge during the SRT task (p<0.01). In conclusion, our results show preserved perceptual-motor learning in AD when the method induces the intervention of non-declarative, automatic memory processes. [less ▲]

Introduction The Conners Parent Rating Scale-48 items (CPRS) is one of the most used behavioral scales in clinical and research settings with children suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders, and ... [more ▼]

Introduction The Conners Parent Rating Scale-48 items (CPRS) is one of the most used behavioral scales in clinical and research settings with children suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders, and particularly with children with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This scale provides an interesting qualitative and quantitative picture of the emotional and behavioural children’s attitude by including five subscales assessing conduct problem, learning problem, anxiety, impulsive/hyperactive behaviour and psychosomatic feelings (e.g., Goyette, Conners, & Ulrich, 1978). Previous versions of this scale were developed to contribute to the identification of hyperkinetic children and evaluate treatment efficiency. To our knowledge, no study has verified the factor structure of the French version of the CPRS. In this context, the principal aims of this study were to verify the five-factor structure of the French version of the CPRS and therefore to provide preliminary culturally adapted normative data for Belgian French-speaking children aged from 5 to 10 years old. Method The CPRS for parents was distributed in several schools in the region of Liège (Belgium). A total of 157 parents of normally developing 5-10 years old children participated in this study (Mean age: 7.94 years, SD: 2.01). Exclusion criteria for participation were a history of traumatic brain injury or neurological, developmental, learning, or psychiatric disorders. Results We carried out a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) using LISREL 8.80 (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 2006) to examine the factor structure of the French version of the CPRS. We tested the five-factor structure found in Goyette, Conners, and Ulrich (1978) with the English version including the five following subscales: [i] Conduct problem, [ii] Learning problem, [iii] Psychosomatic, [iv] Impulsive-hyperactive, and [v] Anxiety. To evaluate the fit of this model, different goodness-of-fit indexes were employed: (1) the chi2 value, (2) the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA; Browne & Cudeck, 1989), and (3) the Comparative Fit Index (CFI; Bentler, 1990). Generally, the fitness index is calculated from the value of the chi-square divided by the degrees of freedom. A value of chi2/df of less than 2 is considered to be an indication of an adequate fit. The RMSEA indicates a ‘good’ approximation if it is less than .05. A RMSEA between .05 and .08 reflects a ‘reasonable’ approximation, and a RMSEA greater than .08 indicates poor approximation. In line with Goyette, Conners, and Ulrich (1978), a five-factor model was constructed in which the items of the CPRS were hypothesized to reflect these factors. The chi-square of the model was not significant, chi2 (199) = 230.626, p > .05. The chi2/df ratio is 1.15, which indicates an adequate fit. For the other fit indices, we obtained a RMSEA of .07. The combination of these indices indicated an acceptable fit for the model tested. The standard item alpha for the whole-scale was .82. The reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) for each of the subscales ranged from .63 to .80 (Mean: .72). The coefficients confirmed the good internal reliability of the inventory. Discussion The principal aim of this study was to validate the five-factor structure of the French adaptation of the CPRS in Belgian French-speaking children. Interestingly, the CFA showed that, like the original version, the French adaptation of the CPRS presents good psychometric characteristics. More interestingly, the CFA confirmed that the 48-item scale of the French version of the CPRS specifically assessed the five different children’s behaviours described above. Furthermore, this study provides cultural-adapted normative data for Belgian French-speaking children. Future research will be necessary to examine to what extent this questionnaire can discriminate between children with ADHD and normally developing children. [less ▲]

According to the procedural deficit hypothesis (PDH), abnormal development in the procedural memory system could account for the language deficits observed in specific language impairment (SLI). Recent ... [more ▼]

According to the procedural deficit hypothesis (PDH), abnormal development in the procedural memory system could account for the language deficits observed in specific language impairment (SLI). Recent studies have supported this hypothesis by using a serial reaction time (SRT) task, during which a slower learning rate is observed in children with SLI compared to controls. Recently, we obtained contrasting results, demonstrating that children with SLI were able to learn a sequence as quickly and as accurately as controls. These discrepancies could be related to differences in the statistical structure of the SRT sequence between these studies. The aim of this study was to further assess, in a group of 21 children with SLI, the PDH with second-order conditional sequences, which are more difficult to learn than those used in previous studies. Our results show that children with SLI had impaired procedural memory, as evidenced by both longer reaction times and no sign of sequence-specific learning in comparison with typically developing controls. These results are consistent with the PDH proposed by Ullman and Pierpont (2005) and suggest that procedural sequence-learning in SLI children depends on the complexity of the to-be-learned sequence. [less ▲]

Purpose: According to the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis (PDH), difficulties in the Procedural Learning (PL) system may contribute to the language difficulties observed in children with Specific Language ... [more ▼]

Purpose: According to the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis (PDH), difficulties in the Procedural Learning (PL) system may contribute to the language difficulties observed in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Method: Fifteen children with SLI and their typically developing (TD) peers were compared on visual PL tasks: specifically, deterministic Serial Reaction Time (SRT) tasks. In a first experiment, children with SLI and their TD peers performed the classical SRT task using a keyboard as response mode. In a second experiment, they performed the same SRT task but gave their responses through a touchscreen (instead of a keyboard) to reduce the motor and cognitive demands of the task. Results: Although in Experiment 1, children with SLI demonstrated learning, they were slower and made more errors than their TD peers. Nevertheless, these relative weaknesses disappeared when the nature of the response mode changed (Experiment 2). Conclusions: This study reports that children with SLI may exhibit sequential learning. Moreover, the generally slower RTs observed in previous deterministic SRT studies may be explained by the response mode used. Thus, our findings are not consistent with the predictions of the PDH, and suggest that language impairments in SLI are not sustained by poor procedural learning abilities. [less ▲]

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a developmental disorder characterized by marked impairments in motor skills. Despite its negative impact on daily activities and on cognitive and academic ... [more ▼]

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a developmental disorder characterized by marked impairments in motor skills. Despite its negative impact on daily activities and on cognitive and academic performance, the mechanisms underlying this disorder remain largely unknown. One hypothesis that has been proposed is that the poor motor coordination abilities may be attributed to impairments in motor learning and, more specifically, in learning of the correct sequencing of movements (Gheysen et al., 2011). To date, only two studies have directly investigated sequence learning in DCD, but their results are contradictory. The aim of this study was to explore learning of motor sequence in DCD children by means of a modified version of the Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task where the standard keyboard was replaced by a touch screen in order to reduce the impact of the DCD group’s motor difficulties. A total of 34 children (17 with DCD and 17 typically developing (TD) children aged between 6 and 12 years old participated in this study. Results show that DCD children were able to learn the sequence as fast and as accurately as TD children. These findings, showing that children with DCD present the same degree of implicit learning as TD children, differ from those obtained by Gheysen et al. (2011) and so, challenge the motor sequence learning deficit hypothesis. We suggest that differences between studies are not related to an implicit sequence learning deficit per se in children with DCD, but rather to methodological aspects like the response mode used in the studies. [less ▲]

Introduction. – The influence of Parental Educational Status (PES) on cognitive performance has been confirmed in several studies. Objective. – The aim of this study was to explore the relationship ... [more ▼]

Introduction. – The influence of Parental Educational Status (PES) on cognitive performance has been confirmed in several studies. Objective. – The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between PES and several domains of cognitive functioning and examine, through mediation analyses, the relationship between PES, language,and cognitive tasks. Method. – We first administered tasks measuring memory, executive and attentional abilities to 64 European native French speakers, divided into two groups of children according to parents’ educational status. Results. – The results suggest that, on most tasks, the effect of socio-educational status is mediated by language abilities. However, because the results were less clear for executive functions, we carried out a second experiment in which we administered more specific executive measures (i.e. inhibition, cognitive flexibility, updating and reasoning) to 80 children. Conclusion. – The results confirmed the influence of the parents’ educational status on the executive functioning and also that, contrary to other cognitive functions, this influence on executive tasks is not completely explained by language differences. [less ▲]

in 1st Joint Meeting of the Belgian Association for Psychological Science and Sociedad Espanola de Psicologia Experimental. Book of abstracts (2012)

Recent studies in adults have shown an advantage for video games players compared to non-video game players on several attentional tasks, and particularly those involving visual processing and spatial ... [more ▼]

Recent studies in adults have shown an advantage for video games players compared to non-video game players on several attentional tasks, and particularly those involving visual processing and spatial distribution of attention. However, little is known about the influence of video game practice on children’s attentional and executive abilities. In this study, eighty 8-10 years old children divided into three groups (non-video-game players [NVGP], moderate video game players [MVGP], and Intense video game player [IVGP]) were administered computerized attentional/executive tasks tapping vigilance, visual and auditory selective attention, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility. Parents were also asked to complete behavioral scales. Results indicate limited effects of video game practice on attentional/executive tasks, with an advantage in reaction time only for vigilance and flexibility tasks. On the other hand, results on behavioral measures showed a positive relationship between the importance of video-game practice and hyperactive behaviors. In conclusion, these results support the idea that video game practice has a limited influence on attentional performance in children, while they might have an effect on the behavioral area. [less ▲]

in Books of Abstract: ASecond Meeting of The Federation of European Societies of Neuropsychology (2011, September)

It is generally admitted that procedural learning abilities are efficient early in childhood. However, few studies have been carried out in this area. The aim of this study was to explore, with a ... [more ▼]

It is generally admitted that procedural learning abilities are efficient early in childhood. However, few studies have been carried out in this area. The aim of this study was to explore, with a perceptivo-motor learning task, whether procedural learning abilities are present to the same extent in 4-, 7-, and 10-year-old children. Forty-five children were tested. The task included 4 blocks of 12 trials during which each subject had to “catch”, as quickly as possible, several toys presented successively on the screen with a computerized inverted mouse. Retention tests, composed of 2 blocks of 12 trials, were administered 15 minutes and 1 week later. The analyses showed an important difference between groups in the first block. This difference could be related to the low ability of young children to handle the mouse and to their less developed executive functioning. On the other hand, results showed a similar learning rate between 5- and 7-year-old children, supporting the idea that procedural learning abilities are efficient early in development. However, we observed no procedural learning in10-year-old children; this unexpected result is probably due to the fact that this task was too easy for this age group, which is confirmed by the ceiling effect already observed during the first learning blocks. So, this study confirms the early efficiency of procedural abilities in childhood, but also highlights the difficulty to develop procedural learning tasks adapted to children from a large age range. [less ▲]

The ability of amnesic patients to learn new semantic information is a topic of research that has a renewed interest for about 10 years, in particular following Vargha-Khadem’s and collaborators’ (1997 ... [more ▼]

The ability of amnesic patients to learn new semantic information is a topic of research that has a renewed interest for about 10 years, in particular following Vargha-Khadem’s and collaborators’ (1997) works and the impact of these results both on our understanding of the relations between semantic and episodic memory and, from a clinical point of view, on the way to consider rehabilitation possibilities for these patients. This review aims to present what is known about this topic, by trying to respond to 4 different questions: What are the relations between episodic and semantic memory? Does the study of amnesic patients provide contributive data regarding this debate? Are these patients really able to learn new semantic information and, if so, to what extent? What is the nature of the knowledge that amnesic patients can acquire? [less ▲]

Recent studies on specific language impairment (SLI) have suggested that language deficits could be partly explained by the Procedural Deficit hypothesis (PDH; Ullman & Pierpont, 2005). Tomblin et al. (2007) and Lum et al. (2009; 2011) obtained data supporting this interpretation with the serial reaction time (SRT) task, as well as Evans et al. (2009) and Plante et al. (2002) with artificial grammar tasks. Recently, Gabriel et al. (2011) obtained contrasting results, showing that children with SLI were able to detect non linguistic regularities during a SRT task. The aim of this study was to assess the PDH by using a non-linguistic artificial grammar learning tasks in order to mimic real conditions of language acquisition. Twenty-three children with SLI and their typically developing (TD) peers are compared on a task in which the incidental learning sequence was presented through visual shapes via a laptop.These results confirm our previous study (Gabriel et al., 2011) by showing that children with SLI detect the rules in non-linguistic conditions. • So, contrary to results of previous studies (Evans et al., 2009; Lum et al., 2009; 2011; Plante et al., 2002; Tomblin et al., 2007), this study does not confirm the PDH in children with SLI, or at least suggests that, if present, the deficit of the procedural system in SLI is not going beyond the language system. [less ▲]

It is generally admitted that procedural learning is efficient early in childhood. However, few studies have brought empirical data confirming this assumption, and many questions remain regarding the ... [more ▼]

It is generally admitted that procedural learning is efficient early in childhood. However, few studies have brought empirical data confirming this assumption, and many questions remain regarding the cognitive mechanisms that sustain procedural learning in children. The aim of our study was to investigate whether perceptual-motor procedural learning was present to the same extent in 7-, 10-year-old children and in adults. We also examined the role of executive functions, working memory, general intelligence, and motor ability during the learning process. A total of 76 subjects divided into 3 age-groups were tested. The task included 4 blocks of 3 trials during which each subject had to trace the contour of a triangle with an inverted computer mouse. Analyses show an important difference between groups in the initial phase of the learning process. They also reveal that executive functions intervene during the first learning phase, which might explain the observed age effect. In addition, results show significant but different learning effects for the procedural task: while the improvement was equivalent between 10-year-olds and adults, 7-year-old children showed a greater learning slope than the other groups; despite their slowness during the first blocks, younger children showed an equivalent performance at the end of the learning phase. These results suggest that, if executive processes are important during the first learning steps, they are not a “necessary condition” for motor skill learning to occur. The role of compensatory strategies sustaining learning in younger children is discussed. [less ▲]

In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), implicit or procedural rehabilitation techniques would be more effective to train new skills than explicit or declarative learning methods (van Halteren-van Tilborg, 2007 ... [more ▼]

In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), implicit or procedural rehabilitation techniques would be more effective to train new skills than explicit or declarative learning methods (van Halteren-van Tilborg, 2007). Following Baddeley and Wilson (1994)’s assumption, Maxwell et al. (2001) showed that reducing errors during motor learning minimizes the building of declarative knowledge and would allow implicit knowledge accumulation. However, most studies on errorless learning focused on learning of face-name associations (Clare et al., , 2001), and very few studies have investigated errorless learning in procedural learning situations, even though some data suggest that errorless learning would be efficient for learning instrumental activities of daily living (e.g., Thivierge et al., 2008). The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of an error-reducing versus an errorfull method in motor skill learning. We examined the acquisition of a new motor skill in 24 patients with AD and 24 healthy older adults matched for age, sex, and education. In this task, subjects had to follow with a reversed mouse the contour of a form (a star) displayed on a computer screen. Half the subjects learned in an error-reducing condition, and the others in an errorfull condition. After the learning phase, all the subjects had to complete a novel form. Results show an advantage for the error-reducing condition in the AD group, whereas the performance of the healthy participants did not differ between the two conditions, confirming the efficiency of errorless learning principles in AD for procedural learning situations. [less ▲]

Recent studies on specific language impairment (SLI) have suggested that language deficits are directly associated with poor procedural learning abilities. Findings from our previous work are contrary to this hypothesis; we found that children with SLI were able to learn eight-element-long sequences as fast and as accurately as children with normal language (NL) on a serial reaction time (SRT) task. A probabilistic rather than a deterministic SRT paradigm was used in the current study to explore procedural learning in children with SLI to mimic real conditions of language learning. Fifteen children with or without SLI were compared on an SRT task including a probabilistic eight-element-long sequence. Results show that children with SLI were able to learn this sequence as fast and as accurately as children with NL, and that similar sequence-specific learning was observed in both groups. These results are novel and suggest that children with SLI do not display global procedural system deficits. (JINS, 2011, 17, 1-8). [less ▲]